Brief case



July 31, 1923- S'. H. LIFTON BRIEF CASE Filed Nov. 13, 1922 INVEMW 4Patented July 31, I23.

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SAMUEL H. LIPTON, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

BRIEF CASE.

Application filed November 13, 1922. Serial No. 660,577.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL H. Lirron,

a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Brooklyn, city andState of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inBrief Cases and Similar Devices, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to brief cases, and has for its object to providean improved brief case of great durability and usefulness and one inwhich the use thereof will be accompanied by a higher degree ofefficiency than in brief cases heretofore known in that the insertionsin my improved brief case, such as papers and the like, will not beinjured or disturbed when inserted in the brief case. By means of myimproved construction, it is also possible to use leather of muchlighter weight in the construction of the brief case than has heretoforebeen employed in articles of this character.

For this purpose, my invention consists of the brief case havingreinforced means at the corners thereof and also arranged around thecomplete edges of the brief case. For this purpose, my invention will bedescribed hereinafter, and embodiments thereof will be shown in thedrawing and finally pointed out in the claim.

In the accompanying drawings, Fig. 1 is a perspective view of oneembodiment of my improved brief case;

Fig. 2 is a section taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of my improved brief case taken on the line3-3 of Fig. 2, showing one form of strengthening means;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged section of the view' vided with fastening devices11 at the front thereof and with a suitable lock indicated by 12, andthe flap of the brief case in the well known manner is provided with ahandle 13.

Along the edges of the two front sides of the brief case, or what mightbe said to be the front side and the rear side, reinforcing means 19 areprovided which, in the embodiment shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3, as alsothat of Figure 6, have the form of a U as shown in Fig. 7. In this formit is made of one piece of material suitably stamped out from sheets ofmetal or fibrous material, or the like. This U shaped strengthening'member19 has substantially the configura tion of the side walls, thatis the front and the back of a brief case, and is placed within thebrief case in the manner shown in Figure 2. The edges of the sidesof'the brief case have the gussets 17 secured by threads 18 to the sides15 and 16, and these threads 18 at the same time, also securely hold thereinforcing member 19 in position. I A piece of leather 18' is securedby this thread 18 to the sides 15 and 16, and a second thread 18" holdsthe other edge of this piece of leather 18 in position by reason of thethread 18" passing through the leather piece 18' and the sides 15 and16. This piece of leather 18' extends along the edges of the brief casein parallelism with the inserted strengthening member 19. my

Another embodiment of my invention is shown in Fig. 4. In this case, thestrengthening member 19 is secured by a piece of leather 20 whichextends the whole length and breadth of the brief case, and then has aline of thread indicated by 22 arranged in paralleism with the member19, whereby the enveloping portion 21 is formed. This enveloping portion21 holds the member 19 in position by reason of the action of thethreads 22 and the threads. 18 which hold the gussets 17 to the walls 15and 16.

In the embodiment of Fig. 5, the gussets themselves are so shaped as tohave a portion thereof envelop the strengthening frame 19. This portionis indicated by 23 and is held in enveloping position by the threads 22.Between the side walls of the brief case, partitions 17 are arranged. Inthis case also the strengthening member 19 extends in U shaped formaround the edges of the brief case.

This strengthening member 19 may be made of one piece, as shown in Fig.7 mall of the embodiments so far described, or it may be also made ofthree pieces, as indicated in Fig. 8, in which the lower portion 34 hassecured the uprights 33 by means of rivets, screws or the like,indicated by 35. If it is desired to reinforce only the corners of abrief case, member 36 may be used having its ends secured to the wallsof the brief case by means of rivets 37, or otherwise,

The flap of a brief case ma also be reinforced and this is. shown in iti and the reinforcing member 31 is shaped to conform to the flap of thebrief case and then has a piece of leather, cloth or the like, passingover the strengthening member 31, and suitably sewed to the brief caseflap by threads 31', the strengthening member curved at the ends, asindicated by 32.

lit is, of course, members may be made of sheet metal or any othermetal, fibrous material, stiff leather, or any other suitable material,and that the enveloping members which have been described as leather,may be made either of leather or cloth, or any other suitable material.

llt will be seen from the above that l provide a very efficient briefcase of great durabilit in that the corners of the leather are not entaround by usage which is often the case with brief cases whereby theleather is then an angular reinforcing,

clear that the reinforcing naeaaro caused to crumble and deterioratevery. rapidly, Moreover, the special improvement of the reinforcingmembers permits the papers or other insertions to be readily insertedinto the brief case without danger of the corners of the papers beingbent or injured. The reinforcing members keep the case in shape and givea springy efi'ect to the same, adding greatly to the strength thereof,and it prevents the gussets and ends of the brief case from tearingopen. By virtue of the strength of the reinforcing members, a lighterweight leather might be employed.

tllaim,

A brief case having a front wall, and a back wall provided with a flapoverlapping the upper margin of the front wall, folding gussets securedat their edges to the edges of said walls by a row of stitching, a flatreinforcing band conforming in contour to that of the inner margin ofsaid walls arranged within said case back of said inner margins, and astrip covering said band having one edge interposed between the edges ofsaid gusset and walls and secured thereto by said row of stitching, andhaving its other edge stitched to the wall adjacent to said edge.

In testimony that l claim the foregoing as my invention, l have signedmy name hereunder,

SAMUEL H. LIFTGN.

